
REPORT 



OF THE 



Secretary of Virginia Military Records 



TO THE 



Governor of Virginia 



1909 



RICHMOND : 

DAVIS BOTTOM, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC PRINTING 
1910 



REPORT 



OF THE 



Secretary of Virginia Military Records 



TO THE 



Governor of Virginia 



1909 



RICHMOND : 

DAVIS BOTTOM. SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC PRINTING 
1910 






D. OF D. 

MAR 4 1910 



Secretary's Report 



To His Excellency. Claude A. Swanson. Governor of Virginia. 

In compliance with the act of Assembly of March 9, 1908, which 
directs that "the Secretary of Virginia Military Records shall make to 
the Governor of this State a full report of his work in his department al- 
ready done," etc., I have the honor to state that I have at each annual 
meeting of the Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans of Virginia, since 
the creation of this office, made a full report of its work up to their 
respective dates. These reports are published in the "Proceedings of the 
Grand Camp," and copies thereof are herewith submitted and respect- 
fully referred to for information as to details which are not embraced 
in this report. 

In none of the former acts prescribing the duties of this office was 
there any direction for a report, but I felt it to be a duty, as it was 
a pleasure, to keep the Grand Camp — which is the representative assembly 
of the Confederate Veterans of the State — fully informed in regard to 
the progress of the important work committed to my charge. 

This office was created for the purpose of co-operating with the War 
Department of the United States in the compilation of a "Roster of the 
Officers and Enlisted Men of the Union and Confederate Armies," as pro- 
vided by the act of Congress of February 25, 1903; and its chief work 
has been the collection of muster-rolls, records, and other materials, 
showing the names, number and character of the officers and soldiers 
furnished by Virginia to the army and navy of the Confederate States of 
America, as prescribed by the act of Assembly of March 7, 1903, and the 
acts subsequent thereto, continuing and enlarging the scope of its duties. 

It must be borne in mind that greater difficulty has been encountered 
in collecting Virginia rolls than any other Southern State has had to 
contend with, in consequence of the total loss of the rolls and records 
which were in the custody of General Richardson, the Adjutant General 
of the State, whose office was destroyed in the disastrous conflagration 
on the night of the evacuation of the city of Richmond, April 2, 1865. 

The War Department construed the act of Congress of February 
25, 1903, as restricting it, in the compilation provided for, to the use 
of original rolls and records made during the war period, thus precluding 
the use of printed or manuscript copies of rolls made subsequently. To 
meet the difliculty incident to the loss of so many of our original Virginia 
rolls and records, and the decision of the Secretary of War to accept 
none other than original, the act creating this office was construed as 
having two distinct objects in view. 

1. The collection of all original rolls, records and other materials 
showing Virginia's contribution to the Confederate service, to be used 
in the roster provided for by Congress. 



4 REPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS 

2. The collection of all rolls, records and other reliable data — 
whether original and made during the war period or subsequently — show- 
ing the names of all Virginians, of whatever rank in the military, marine 
or naval service of the Confederate States, whether regulars or volunteers, 
militia or reserves, to be used for an exclusively Virginia Roster, of a 
scope and on a scale which the restrictions of the War Department 
Roster will not admit of. I have worked to the best of my ability on 
both these lines, with results as satisfactory as could reasonably be ex- 
pected in view of the difficulties and restrictions to which I have referred. 
I can safely say that there are few, if any, original Virginia muster-rolls 
within the limits of this State, which have not been collected and trans- 
mitted to the War Department for its use in the preparation of the 
roster, as provided for by Congress. 

The following summary of the collections of rosters, records, and 
other "materials for the History of Virginia in the Civil War," which 
have been made by this office, and are now in its file-cases, will indicate a 
part of the work already done. 

1. A list of the general officers of the Confederate Army, with date 
of appointments and promotions and their various commands. 

2. A list of the field officers, regiments and battalions from Vir- 
ginia in the different branches of the Confederate States Army, Infantry, 
Cavalry, Artillery. 

3. A list of artillery officers and names of organizations and bat- 
teries to which they were attached. 

4. A register of the commissioned and warrant officers of the 
Provisional Navy of the Confederate States. 

5. Roster of officers of the Confederate States Marine Corps, Colonel 
Commandant Lloyd J. Beall. 

6. A list of Virginia surgeons and assistant surgeons. 

7. A list of Virginia chaplains. 

8. A list of names of officers and sergeants of the Signal Corps 
Confederate States Army, under act of Confederate Congress May 29, 
1862. 

9. Original rolls of Companies D and K, First Regiment Virginia 
Engineers. 

10. Original names of Virginia companies when entering service, 
and before they were designated by "Letters" and organized in regiments 
or battalions. 

11. A list of Virginia staff officers of the Confederate States Army. 

12. A list of all battles, engagements, skirmishes, embracing all the 
armed collisions of the hostile forces on Virginia soil, during 1861-1865 
— aggregating 1,064 in what is now Virginia, and 340 in what is now 
West Virginia. These have been located on a map of Virginia, designated 
as the "Battle Fields Map," which shows the counties in which they were 
fought. Accompanying this map is a key or index, which gives a list 
of the counties, with references to the battles within their limits, the 
dates on which thej'^ occurred, and the volumes of the Official Records in 
which they are reported. This valuable information will be followed by 
giving, as far as practicable, the Virginia commands which participated 
in these engagements. We have the data which will enable us to do this 



REPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS 5 

with regard to the campaigns and battles in which the whole army, or 
a considerable part of it, was engaged, but the reports of minor engage- 
ments and skirmishes are often so meagre as to make it difficult to ascer- 
tain the Virginian troops taking part in them. This can only be done 
by patient and laborious search of the Official Records, supplemented by 
accounts of participants in collisions, which are not given with sufficient 
detail in the official reports. Many of these accounts are to be found 
in the Southern Historical Society Papers, in the Confederate Columns 
of the Times-Dispatch and other like publications. 

We may remark in passing that this "Virginia Battle Fields Map" 
will be of intense interest and great historic value, not only to profes- 
sional students of military affairs, but to the general readers of the 
history of the most memorable epoch in the country's history — not 
only to the present, but to future generations both North and South — 
presenting, as it does, at a single glance, a theatre of conflict, as crowded 
with brilliant acliievements and heroic exploit, and as deeply dyed with 
patriot blood, as any similar area of the earth's surface, whereon great 
armies have contended. 

The eyes of the world were directed to Virginia when these great 
campaigns and battles of Lee and Jackson were in progress, and the 
localities where they were tactically executed are invested with endur- 
ing interest to historians, military critics and students. 

I have no doubt, if the State chose to liave this map lithographed 
and copyrighted, replicas of it could be sold in this country (North and 
South) and Europe in sufficient numbers to reimburse the State, not only 
for the cost of reproduction, but for all the expense it has incurred, or 
may hereafter incur, in connection with the office of Virginia Military 
Records. 

13. A roster of tlie regimental, company and stai¥ officers (176), 
officers of the Virginia State Line, commanded by Major General John B. 
Floyd. This command was independent of the Confederate Government, 
and was recruited from among the classes not embraced in the Con- 
federate Conscription Act — old men and boys. It rendered valuable 
service in Southwest Virginia in protecting the Virginia and Tennessee 
Railroad and the Salt Works. It numbered about 5,000 men from South- 
west Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Captain Micajah Wood, of Char- 
lottesville, who was an officer in the State Line, and for a time an aid 
de camp of General Floyd, has in course of preparation a condensed 
history of the "State Line," and Dr. George Ben Johnston, of this city, 
has valuable papers left by General Floyd, relating to the service and 
personnel of this command, which he has promised as an addition to our 
"materials for the history of Virginia during the Civil War." 

14. Rolls and rosters, original and secondary, of Virginia companies 
and other organizations, of all branches of the service, in the file-cases, 
and calendared in the books of the office, under the heads of their re- 
spective regiments, battalions and other official designations in the 
Virginia and Confederate service, including infantry, cavalry, artillery, 
regulars (Irish battalion), V. M. I. Cadets of Newmarket, militia, first 
and second class, reserves, local defense troops, engineer troops, naval 



6 RKPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA >ilIJr-M;V KIA ORDS 

and warrant officers and marines, Confederate States Navy, signal and 
other detached corps, etc., etc., embracing — 

Names of Virginia infantry of all classes to the number of 67,617 

Names of Virginia cavalry of all classes to the number of 24,450 

Names of Virginia artillery of all classes to the number of 17,335 

Names of Virginia naval officers and marine corps to the number of. . 1.179 
Names of Virginia company rolls taken from Southern Historical 

Papers to the number of 3,694 

Names of Virginia local battalions — emergency service 6,954 

Names of Virginia soldiers on pension lists in Auditor's office 22,601 

Names of Virginia officers, sergeants and privates Signal Corps 61 

Names of Virginia surgeons 829 

Names of Virginia chaplains — furnished by Rev. J. Wm. Jones 97 



144,822 
In addition to this number I have the lists of ex-Confederate soldiers 
and sailors, living in the several cities and counties of the Com- 
monwealth, made by commissioners of the revenue under the act 
of March 6, 1900, to the number of 24,777 



Total 169,599 

It is proper to state here that, in many cases, we have duplicate 
rolls of the same company, made at different periods of the war, so that 
the number given above is somewhat in excess of the actual number of 
names as they will appear when the rolls of the companies are made 
up, after final revision, for publication in the Virginia Roster. 

PROGRESS OF THE WORK— CAUSES OP DELAY. 

It may appear to those who have not considered the magnitude of 
the task, and the difficulties in the way of its execution, that the pro- 
gress of the work has been discouragingly slow, but for this delay this 
office is in nowise responsible. Until the compilation of the rosters in 
the War Department, as directed by Congress (act of February 2 5, 1903), 
is published, the Virginia Roster cannot possibly be compiled in con- 
secutive order and in proper form; and this is true, doubtless, of all the 
Southern States. It is hoped that the appropriation necessary for this 
publication will be made at the coming session of Congress; and to this 
end the Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans of Virginia, at its recent 
meeting in Danville, adopted unanimously the following preamble and 
resolution: 

"Whereas. The Congress of the United States, by its act of 
February 25, 1903, authorized and required the Chief of the Record 
and Pension Office 'to compile, under the direction of the Secretary 
of War, from such records as are in possession of the United States, 
and from other authentic records as may be obtained by loan from 
the various States and other official sources, a complete roster of 
the Union and Confederate Armies' ; and. 



I REPORT SI<X:HKTARY VIliGINlA MILITARY Hl-X'ORDS 7 

"Whereas, By reason of the completeness of the records of the 
Union Army there was little to be done in compiling the roster of 
the Union troops, and the same is now virtually completed, while 
the roster of the Confederate troops is reported to be 'still far from 
complete'; and. ' 

"Whereas. Under the rule of the War Department, none but original 
rolls, and records contemporaneous with the war period, are ac- 
cepted in the compilation of the roster, and it is probable that all 
original Confederate rolls obtainable have already been secured 
and copied by the War Department, and there is no longer any 
reason for delay: 

"Be it Resolved. That the Senators and Representatives of the 
Southern States be requested to use their best efforts to induce 
Congress to provide for the publication of the War Department 
compilation of rosters at the earliest time practicable, and for 
the reasons above set forth that the Confederate part of said roster 
be first published." 

If this congressional action can be secured within a reasonable time 
an approximately complete Virginia roster can be compiled; but every 
day's delay will add to the difficulties. Fire, mold, insects, vermin, with 
the ravages of time, are effacing our written records, and death, in its 
relentless march, is daily removing the survivors of the war. whose 
information may be needed to supply deficiencies in the records. 

As the then Secretary of War (Hon. Elihu Root), upon whose recom- 
menaation Congress provided for the rosters of both Union ana uon- 
federate Armies, viewed the law. "It was the intent of Congress to pub- 
lish and thus make accessible to the various States, and to all persons 
interested, all the historical data that are contained in the original roils 
and other similar records of the war period that are in possession of the 
War Department or that can be found elsewhere," adding that "the 
information thus placed at the disposal of the States will enable them, 
if they so desire, to compile their own rosters in their own way. using 
as a source of additional information any other data that may seem to 
them sufficiently reliable to be incorporated in their rosters." 

REQUEST FOR CHECK-LISTS. 

The rule of the War Department "not to permit any person other 
than an employee of the department to have access to the official records" 
has greatly retarded my labors. If my request for permission to make 
a check-list of the Virginia rolls had been granted much larger results 
would have been secured; but not knowing which or our rolls were 
missing I have been forced to work somewhat in the dark and without 
that concentration of effort so essential to complete success. 

It Is but fair to the War Department, however, to give its reasons 
lor this rigid rule,- which, it must be admitted, are very sound, from 
its standpoint. As summarized by Major General Ainsworth in his an- 
nual report for 1906, they are: 



8 REPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RE(iORDS 

1. Many of the records have become so dilapidated through 
age and years of handling, that it is not safe to subject them to 
fiirther handling. 

2. A document misplaced is almost as hopelessly lost as if 
it were wilfully abstracted from the files. It is unsafe, therefore, 
to permit any one to have access to the records who is not trained 
in their use and legally subject to the control of the department. 

3. Because of the restricted space available it has been neces- 
sary to file the records in such a way that only those who have been 
especially trained in their use can find any particular record or 
class of records. The constant aid and attendance of an employee 
of the department would be necessary to enable anyone unfamiliar 
with the files to make a successful search of them, whose services 
would be lost to the department and the current work correspond- 
ingly interferred with. 

In view of this obstacle the Grand Camp at its last session adopted 
the following resolution: 

"Whereas. The work of compiling the roster of the officers and 
enlisted men of the Southern States in the Confederate service will 
be greatly facilitated if check-lists of said rosters, now on file in the 
War Department, are furnished to said States: 

"Be it Resolved by the Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans of 
Virginia, That the Secretary of War be requested to detail a compe- 
tent clerk or clerks of his department to prepare from the files 
therein a check-list of the Confederate rolls of the Virginia soldiers 
for use in the compilation of the Virginia Roster, and that Governor 
Swanson be asked to communicate this resolution to the Secretary 
of War." 

NEGLECT OP COUNTIES TO RECORD NAMES OF THEIR SOLDIERS 

Another section of the act directs that the Secretary shall ascertain 
and report what counties, cities and towns have caused the rolls of their 
soldiers to be put on record in their respective clerk's offices, and "where 
this has not been done, shall encourage its accomplishment." 

Circulars giving extracts from the law (act of February 9, 18 98,) 
and pointing out the mode of procedure have been sent repeatedly to 
the local camps, to the clerks of the counties, to the newpapers and 
comrades throughout the State, urging prompt action in this matter 
and tendering all the assistance in my power. These circulars have been 
supplemented by earnest appeals from Past Grand Commanders Christian, 
Harwood, Pulton, Steward and Munford; and I have also addressed 
personal letters to the judges of the State, asking their co-operation; 
but while many counties have recorded their rolls and others are now 
engaged in gathering them for record, the results so far have not been 
as satisfactory as was hoped for. Indeed, quite a number of counties, 
whose soldiers did splendid service,*- have made no re'cord of them at all, 
and so far as I have heard, are making no efforts in that direction 
I 111' faihiio has not been with the legislature or with this office, but, 
I regret to say, with our comrades themselves, and the local camps. 



IIEPOIIT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS 9 

Unquestionably, there is no record that any county has ever made, or 
can make, which will add so greatly to Its prestige, which will be of such 
historic interest, and which will be so highly prized and eagerly scanned 
by future generations, as the record of its soldiers who followed Lee in 
our great struggle from 1861 to 1865. 

Marble, granite and bronze can, at best, tell but half the splendid 
story. They must be supplemented by the names of the men whose deeds 
they commemorate in order that their sons and daughters and kins- 
folk, to the remotest posterity, may feel the pride and incentive to high 
deeds which comes with descent from ancestors who were heroes and 
martyrs in their day and generation. I respectfully ask through you 
the co-operation of the members of the General Assembly in this im- 
portant work, which will redound so greatly to the credit of the counties 
they represent. 

Eighteen counties and cities have I'ecorded their rolls; twelve have 
made partial records; tv.'enty-one are gathering their rolls, and the other 
counties have made no reports. 

MATERIALS FOR THE WAR HISTORY. 

The collection of "materials for the history of Virginia in the Civil 
War" has not been neglected. Inasmuch as the entire able-bodied popu- 
lation of the State was upon a war-footing of some sort during the years 
1861-1865, the military features of the period are the most prominent; 
but it would be obviously unjust to her civil authorities, constituted as 
they were chiefly of eminent citizens of advanced years, to obscure the 
fact that they measured up nobly to the emergencies that confronted them. 

Her governors and executive officers; the convention which withdrew 
the State from the Union — its members and ordinances; the Virginia 
legislatures, their members and acts during this trying period; the Vir- 
ginians in the Confederate Cabinet and Congress, and the various bureaus 
of the Government; the Home Guards; the hospital and auxiliary work 
of the women of the State, without which the great struggle could not 
have been maintained as it was — all these, for which I have gathered 
the data, will be given their appropriate place in the history. 

SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Among my collections, which are very valuable as side-lights to 
the war history, are papers relating to its incidents, which have been 
appearing in the Confederate column of the Times-Dispatch and other 
newspapers since the close of the war. Many of these papers have been 
arranged in scrap-books and indexed, and this will be continued. I am 
indebted to Colonel .loseph V. Bidgood for a large contribution of this 
interesting material. 

REPORT OF EXAMINING COMMITTEE. 

In view of the delay and difficulties attending my work, and for the 
information of the Governor, the legislature and my comrades of the 
Grand Camp, and also for my personal satisfaction as an official charged 
with an important duty under adverse conditions, upon my own motion. 



10 REPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS 

the Grand Camp, at its meeting in Norfolk in October, 1908, adopted 
tlie following resolution: 

"Resolved, That a special committee of twelve be appointed by 
the Grand Commander, to be chosen from the local camps, five 
of whom shall be from the city of Richmond, whose duty it shall 
be to examine the records of the office of the Secretary of Virginia 
Military Records, to inquire as to the work already done, to con- 
sider what remains to be done, and to make such suggestions as 
the committee may deem wise and practicable, to the end that 
the necessary legislation may be enacted as will fully carry out 
the intent of the legislature, as set forth in the act of February 
20, 1906." 

General T. T. Munford, the Grand Commander, named the following 
committee: Captain W. Gordon McCabe, Major John W. Daniel, Colonel 
Thomas Smith, of Warrenton; Captain Samuel Griffin, of Bedford; 
Major R. R. Henry, of Tazewell; Captain R. C. Marshall, of Ports- 
mouth; Judge George L. Christian, Rev. James Power Smith. D. D., 
Dr. C. W. P. Brock, Colonel Miles Cary, Colonel Archer Anderson, Gen- 
eral Eppa Hunton, Richmond. 

The report of this committe is herewith appended and your con- 
sideration of its contents is respectfully invited. 

Apart from its complimentary references to myself, which were 
inspired by the partial friendship of its author and are far beyond any 
merit I can claim, the report does not exaggerate the obstacles en- 
countered or the zeal with which the work has been prosecuted; while 
the distinguished personnel of the committee — representative soldiers of 
Lee's Army — that "goodliest fellowship of famous men whereof this 
world holds record since the Round Table was broken and its knights 
were dispersed" — gives added weight to their statements and suggestions. 

Typewritten copies of this report were given to several members 
of the last legislature, but it has never been officially published. 

THANKS TO THE GOVERNOR. 

In concluding this report permit me as a representative of the 
surviving Confederate Veterans of the State, to thank your Excellency 
most cordially for the interest you have shown, and the valuable assist- 
tance and support you have given me in the prosecution of the good 
work in which I am engaged. 

Upon your retirement from office not the least pleasing of your 
reflections will be that your administration will always hold a high 
place in the annals of our great Commonwealth — not only for its pru- 
dently aggressive advancement of the public interests along the most 
beneficial lines, for the sure and sound foundations it has laid for the 
future prosperity of our people, but, also, because it has been loyally 
regardful of the heroic men and the glorious memories of the days when 
the "tempest of desolation swept over our fair domain." 

Very respectfully, 

ROBERT W. HUNTER, 
Beeretary of Virginia Military Records. 



REF'ORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA AlILITARY KUCORDS 11 

Report of Examining Committee. 

Gen. T. T. Mx'm-(iki). Grand Commander of the Grand Camp Confederate Vete- 
rans. Department of Virginia. 

Stk: 

At the last annual meeting of the Grand Camp, Confederate Veterans, 
Department of Virginia, held at Norfolk, Virginia, October 23-25, 1907, 
we, the undersigned, were appointed a special committee to examine the 
records of the office of the Secretary of Virginia Military Records, 
"to inquire as to the work already done, to consider what remains to 
be done and to make such suggestions as the committee may deem wise 
and practicable to the end that the necessary legislation may be enacted 
as will fully carry out the intent of the legislature as set forth in the act 
of February 20, 1906." 

We have now the honor to report that, in accordance with that 
resolution, we have made a most careful inspection of the records in 
the office of the Secretary and find them in admirable order. The muster- 
rolls, original and secondary (or non-official), and other cognate records, 
have been carefully indexed and arranged in filing-cases with such 
scientific method as makes them instantly available for present refer- 
ence and future publication. 

Major R. W. Hunter, the Secretary, is, in our judgment, the ideal 
man for the place, and. considering the almost insuperable difficulties 
he has had to encounter, has made tlie most gratifying progress in col- 
lecting the muster-rolls and recording the military service of the soldiers 
and sailors who served Virginia during the eventful years from 1861 
to 18 65. He has up to the date of this report secured the names of 
118,677 men who thus served. 

But how much remains to be done can be readily seen by compar- 
ing these figures with those given in the "Report of the Confederate 
Bureau of Conscription" of .January 25, 1864. Up to that date (more 
than a year before the end of the war) Virginia had put into the field 
153,876 men, far more than any of the other Southern States, and to 
this glorious roll must be added the large number of young men who 
became of military age and entered the service between January, 1864, and 
April, 1865. 

Virginia would be recreant to the sacred duty she owes these men, 
living as well as dead, if she did not bend every energy, while there is 
yet time, to rescue from oblivion and place on enduring record the 
names of these loyal sons who gave their all for hearth and home and 
country. 

Happily, her legislative enactments, from the earliest one (looking 
to this end), passed in 1884. down to the last, passed February 20. 1906, 
evidence that she is not only willing, but eager to fulfill her whole duty 
in this matter. (For convenience of reference, we herewith file a re- 
capitulation of all these enactments as given in Major Hunter's official 
report to the Crand Camp. Department of Virginia, for the years 1904-1907, 
inclusive.) 

In these same reports, which we respectfully suggest that you 
submit along with this report for the consideration of the General 



# 

12 REPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS 

Assembly, may be found in detail an account of the difficulties encoun- 
tered and surmounted by our energetic and devoted Secretary — who 
from 31st of March, 1905, to February 20, 1906, performed the onerous 
duties of his position without asking for or receiving any remuneration 
whatever. 

The act of February 20, 1906, which, in express terms, greatly en- 
larged the scope of the Secretary's duties, provided that "upon the 
assembling of the General Assembly to be elected in 19 07, the office of 
Military Records shall cease to be in force, unless it shall be otherwise 
provided by the General Assembly." 

It will be thus seen that the term of office expired .lanuary 8, 1908, 
the day the General Assembly met. The paramount importance of con- 
tinuing this great work so dear to the hearts of all old Confederates 
and patriotic Virginians, must be too manifest to such an intelligent 
body as the General Assembly to need any argument. But we especially 
commend to them Major Hunter's report for the past year (1907), which 
accompanies this report, and gives in lucid detail what is now being 
done by the Government of the United States as well as by this Com- 
monwealth in the effort to secure a complete roster of troops. 

As the resolution imposes upon this committee the duty of making 
"such suggestions as it may deem wise and practicable to the end that 
the necessary legislation may be enacted to fully carry out the intent of 
the act of February 20, 1906," we respectfully submit, after mature de- 
libeiation, the following: 

1. That a change be made at once in the depository of the 
records, as in the present offices assigned the Secretary they are 
liable at any moment to destruction by fire. Virginia has already 
suffered one irreparable loss in this direction when all the muster- 
rolls of her troops and military records in the office of Adjutant 
General Richardson were totally destroyed by the disastrous con- 
flagration on the night of the evacuation, April 2, 1865. But for 
this loss, which has made the difficulty of collecting official rolls 
greater in Virginia than in any other State, North or South, the 
work of compiling the roster of our soldiers and sailors would have 
long ago been completed. The present records, which have been 
collected at such cost of time and money, should be at once de- 
posited in some building absolutely fireproof, for if destroyed they 
can never be replaced. 

2. That the salary of Major Hunter, as Secretary, be fixed at 
$2,500, a very moderate compensation, when we consider the wide 
and exact knowledge of Virginia's military history possessed by this 
gallant soldier, and the zeal and enterprise that he has displayed 
in prosecuting his difficulty task. He was "at the front" from '61 
to '65, and his enviable record for quick intelligence, decisive vigor 
and splendid daring on the field is to be found in the official re- 
ports of ,lohn B. Gordon and other illustrious soldiers, under whom 
he served as a worthy companion in arms. He fits the place and the 
place fits him, and we assert without fear of successful contradic- 



KErOKT SEOUETARY VIUGINI.A MIEITAKY RECORDS 13 

tion that thei'e is no man living better equipped than he to carry 
this great work to succesful completion. 

3. That the salary of his assistant, Captain Raleigli Travers 
Daniel, a man of notable accomplishment and a veteran whose hon- 
orable wounds bear eloquent testimony to his devotion to the Com- 
monwealth, be fixed at $1,500. These advances in salary are at 
best but trifling, and happily the revenues of the State are such 
that a grateful Commonwealth can well afford them. 

4. That the publica-tion of the roster proper (which cannot be 
done until the appearance of the Union and Confederate Roster 
projected by the Government of the United States and now nearing 
completion) shall be preceded by that of an introductory volume 
containing a brief, but adequate discussion of the origin of the 
war, and a condensed history of the various campaigns in Virginia 
from '61 to '65. We recommend this as a desirable addition to what 
has already been prescribed in the act of 190 6 as part of the con- 
tents of the rosters — viz.: "a short history showing the organization 
of every regiment, battalion, company, or other organization, that was 
in the military, naval or marine service of Virginia, or contributed by 
Virginia to the service of the Confederate States, * * * stating as far 
as possible the service rendered and the battles, combats and skirmishes 
in which they were engaged." 

5. Your committee is further of opinion that provision should 
be made for some additional clerical force in the Secretary's office. 

We may add here that we have no sort of doubt, from experience in 
kindred cases, that the amount derived from the sale of the published 
rosters will fully reimburse the State for every dollar that shall have 
been expended on the work. 

Virginia, let us emphasize, has been handicapped immeasurably be- 
yond any of her Southern sisters in the prosecution of this pious duty. 
Their muster-rolls were in the main preserved. Hers perished by fire. 
What is largely in their case a mere matter of transcription is in hers 
a work of painstaking investigation and of laborious compilation from 
scattered data. 

Prom the captured records, the rosters of North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisanna, Mississippi, Arkansas 
and Kentucky have been compiled by the War Department at Washing- 
ton. Virginia's Roster is the most defective of all, owing to the destruction 
of so many original rolls in the fire mentioned above. 

She must be alert and determined to secure secondary rolls to re- 
place those thus destroyed. To her new difficulty has always meant but 
fresh device and more resolute endeavor. So it was with her in war 
and so it shall be in peace. 

This Confederate Roster, when finally completed, will prove her 
"Roll of Honor" above and beyond all others in her history. 

The names of the great captains she gave to the Confederate cause 
are emblazoned for all time on the stately pages of history. The names 
of numberless officers of lesser rank that entered her military and naval 
service are made secure against oblivion's "dusty touch" by published 



14 REPORT SECRETARY VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS 

official reports, easy of access to all. In this roster alone stiall be found 
the names of her humbler, but no less valiant and patriotic, sons, who, 
with no hope of preferment or expectation of reward, for four long years, 
through driving sleet and torrid sun, stood a living wall between their 
mother and those who sought to wrest her birthright from her. 

Here on this roster shall the descendants and kinsmen of these 
men find their true "patent of nobility" in the names it thus preserves 
and proudly proclaim it so long as love of liberty endures and freemen 
hold that patriotism is patriotism, and that principle is principle, whether 
glorified by victory or shrouded in defeat. 
Respectfully submitted, 

(Signed) W. GORDON McCABE, 
J. W. DANIEL, 
THOMAS SMITH, 
SAMUEL GRIFFIN, 
R. R. HENRY, 
R. C. MARSHALL, 
GEORGE L. CHRISTIAN, 
JOSEPH POWER SMITH, 
C. W. P. BROCK, 
MILES GARY, 
ARCHER ANDERSON, 
EPPA HUNTON. 



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